I was running late this morning getting out the door, stayed up late hanging out and chatting with my 6yr. old daughter Leila who was a little bummed that she couldn't make the Fun Shoot as she had her own schedule of 2 audtions and acting classes today...

So I gave Kevin Y. aka Bondoz a call to let him know I was runnin' late and on the road and he tells me "hopefully there's a bench for you when you get here, we've got a big turn out.."

I was thinking, huh, is he pulling my leg or is there really a crowd?!?! :-0

When I pulled up, I quickly noticed that the parking lot was packed!!! My bud, Doug Owen, was just unloading with his brother in law and nephew.

Grabbed some of my gear and walked in to see a very full firing line with the usual good to see faces of the club and quite a few that were new to me, I was jazzed!!!

Luckily I found a empty table to set up and shoot from(By mid day or so, every table was taken and shooters rotated so that everyone could enjoy airgunning!!! )

Through the course of the day I got to shoot some of my rifles at range, let a whole bunch of others test drive my rigs and meet some new people that were into airguns or interested in them.

It was really cool meeting 2 forum members, TLANDO and BAYAREAAIRGUNNER for the first time. It was a trip, when TLANDO arrived, I could hear him talking to Kevin and mentioning that he was from across the bay and I thought cool, got guys interested and willing to drive out to meet and shoot! Then I see him pull out his gun, a Rapid with a BTAS Muzzle Brake and I start thinking I've only heard of one BTAS Theoben online in Nor Cal, could it be Todd? Sure enough, during a break, I walked over to talk to him and asked if he was Todd aka TLANDO and sure enough he was!!! So we chatted up a bit, talking airguns, FT, and my love of the BSA pcps, especially the John Bowkett Blueprinted ones...luckily I had my Super Hornet(.25) along so I talked Todd into test driving it and think he's a believer now that he's finally shot a BSA let alone a JB tuned and customized one...

BAYAREAAIRGUNNER arrived and was talking with Doug Owen IIRC and I heard him say he wanted to meet Tony which clearly whipped my head around like a weather vane in the wind! Got up to meet him and asks me if I wanted to see a Crosman 140, I posted a few days earlier inquiring info. on the 140 and got a few responses, and all I could think of was wow was he one of the guys that responded to my post? Sure enough Pat was!!!

Pat's 140 was pristine 4th variation and a good shooting rig that was purchased in 1967, he's the original owner and its condition shows that someone bought it and cared for it through the years! The next shocker he pulled out of a gun case was a Mauser 300 SL IIRC, I'd seen pics online before but this was another minty rifle that was a jaw dropper...talking about looking at unobtanium, I was amazed to see let alone shoot the rifle, it was too cool! The other gun he brought was the recently released R7 Double Goldfinger and that was a nice shooting and looking rig! Much smoother shooting than my older stock R7, mine's always been a tackdriver but took a lot of lead to smooth out, and the new stock is much nicer and better feeling than my plain jane no frills piece of firewood! I was suprised that the gun truly was sighted in out of the box, I figured that the factory just mounted the scope...but I was wrong, the gun was on at 25 yards and Pat was dinging a swinging circular silhouette at 50 yards with it in windy conditions...looks like a very good match between rifle and rifleman!!!

PHOTO22 aka Pat was shooting on the table next to me and he's always a good guy to shoot and talk with and he was POUNDING Targets with his Anthony Annuzzi Tuned Condor(.25), hitting silhouette's designed for powderburners with authority! I finally brought my USFT for Pat to shoot now that I've got the power dialed in where it loves JSBH's and Pat got along really well with the USFT!!! As expected, it was funky at first to him but once he got adjusted and into his shooting position he was a "seated sniper"!!!

A "new old face" suprised me today, COMPLETELY...Mike H., one of the guys that I normally shoot at Livermore Rod and Gun Club was there before I got there and shooting so I didn't notice him when I got there...then the line went cold and he popped up and suprised me, lol!!!  He had his Air Hammer, a Career II(.22) Rifle which has laid authortiy on ground squirrels( and that was with wadcutters going scary fast, lol!!! ) After that hunt, Mike was given domed pellets to try out and he's found even better accuracy!!!  He also brought his RWS850 and Walther Nighthawk along to get some range time on a variety of targets.

John L. aka Bikerscum brought 2 of the coolest targets around, the first was a piece of channel steel with a small killzone cut out. you face the open channel away from the firing line and fit a can of Barbasol Shaving Cream shaken violently in the channel!!! Talking about a reactive target!!! 

The other target, well target holder that was cool was a modified RC 4x4 Monster Truck that had an aluminum frame stand rigged to it to hold paper targets so that you can easily change targets and the range of the targets!!! I think he needs to pull balloons behind it and let us shoot at them next time!!!

Today was a truly enjoyable event and met more people than I can remember names, seems like I have problems remembering my own at times, lol...

Can't wait to see these people again and hope that they do check out the FT, Silhouette and 10M airgun venues at Diablo Rod and Gun Club...

Special thanks to Greg Tobler, Kevin Yee and everyone else for making this event happen!!!

Regards,

Tony